My eighth birthday came and went that summer without any word from any distant relatives. I played thought transfer games with Mom in the car a lot. It was good practice and I was gaining control and range. My brothers thought I was just getting weirder and weirder when I would suddenly just laugh out loud for no apparent reason. Controlling my reactions was another challenge that would need practice.
Sometimes I would put thoughts into my brothers' heads just to make Mom laugh. Once I had Darius tell Mom that he was in the mood for tuna casserole for dinner, a meal he would not eat even if his life was at stake. Mom knew what I was doing but played along. She asked him if he would like crab cakes for dessert, my absolute favorite, and it would snap him out of it. The poor boys were the victims of so many of my childish pranks that summer and they never had a clue.
My brothers are Darius and Derrick, ten year old identical twins. They have light brown hair like Dad and they wear it long and wavy. All the little girls think they are so cute with their dark green eyes. They are ok as far as brother go, but thankfully they are so into each other they rarely have time to bother me. They are really into designing and constructing toy buildings, and constantly have some type of building set scattered all over the house. I have been caught sneaking into their room numerous times after screaming out in pain, stepping on those horrible torturous toys. Maybe they do it on purpose.
I know they get a little frustrated with me because I understand their homework before they do. Long division didn't seem so hard. Every day I would hear them whining about their impossible homework, so as soon as they weren't around I peaked at their math books. When I tried to show them how to make the problems easier, they lost it!
"You're just a baby, you don't know what you're talking about!" They screamed at me. Insult after insult they raged. I pretended to be hurt just to make them stop, but inside I was smiling.
Later, when I showed Mom their math problems she told me I had gotten them all correct. She also told me not to let on how easy school was for me, but I could tell she was intrigued. She showed me some cool problems with letters in them. Those were fun too. Somehow all those numbers and letters just made sense to me. They were like a puzzle, and I loved puzzles. I discovered I wanted more of a challenge. All they did in my class was practice adding and subtracting.
Mom got a funny look on her face when I told her that I like to draw during math. While the other kids werre counting on their fingers I would pretend to be working in my workbook. Truthfully, I was sketching. I had some cool drawings in that workbook, hidden way in the back. I like to draw weather events, uncontrolled power unleashed on unsuspecting souls. I liked hurricanes and tornadoes the best. I loved the power a storm generated. The inevitable destruction it would cause was fun to try to put on paper. Sometimes I would see a storm raging in my mind and I could barely draw fast enough to get all the details on the page. Thankfully, I got my math problems right so my teacher never looked at the other pages. Mom, however, asked to see my workbook, and when I showed her, her eyes got really big!
"You did these?" She sounded so shocked.
"Yes, we never get cool weather like that here, so I have to draw it to see it." I explained.
"These are really detailed," she stated. "How did you know how to draw them?"
"I'm not sure, they are just in my head. Even though I know I haven't been anywhere like this, it just seem like I have. Like drawing a memory." As I explained this, Mom started to look a little uneasy.
"I think we need to think about homeschooling you. You are too advanced for your age and someone is bound to start asking questions." She looked scared, actually, she looked terrified.
"Is it bad to be smart Mom?"I stammered. I wasn't understanding this at all. Should I pretend to be slow so as to not draw attention. Would my whole life be a constant hiding of who I am?
No, honey, it's not bad to be smart. If there were more of our kind it would be normal. Here, with all the humans, you stand out. I don't want anyone looking too closely at you, you dont' have the maturity to hide you feline ways sometimes."
As she spoke I happened to be extracting my claws. It felt so good to do that, like a good stretch, or a back crack. She looked at me and my claws with a smirk. I looked at her sheepishly, "ya, I get that. Sorry."
"You shouldn't have to apologize for just being yourself. But people fear what they do not understand. Werecats are just legends, creatures for comic books and movies. Humans have no idea how real we are, or werewolves, vampires, or dragons." She said.
"So basically, I'm a scary movie to them?" I ask.
"Exactly!" I thought she would have disagreed. She went on, "and when humans are afraid they do some pretty dumb stuff."
"What kind of dumb stuff?" I asked, I perked up a little at this news. How bad could it be?
"There are plenty of times in history when a group of people became afraid of another group. Either they are led by a crazy leader, or the just develop a mob mentality but it usually ends with one group trying to get rid of the other group." I could tell she was leaving a lot out.
"Like a war?" I asked, trying to get more information.
"Sometimes wars have been fought because the humans in power wanted to get rid of whatever group they thought threatened their way of life." Mom wasn't making any sense.
"Have they ever caught a werecat?" Trying to make this relevant to my situation.
"No, dear, and we want to keep it that way. There are so few of us left anyway." With that Mom got up and turned off the light, ending this conversation. I was going to have to pay more attention in history to find out what she was taking about.
"Please find our relatives Mom'" I said to her retreating back, "I don't want to be the only one!" I was crying now, this was hard to hear.
By the time the school year started I was no longer enrolled in our local elementary school. Mom hold everyone, including Dad, that is was because of my crazy gymnastic schedule. That was partially true, this year I was skipping a level at the gym and my new hours were extensive. I loved every minute of my time at the gym, but I was away a lot. If we were homeschooling I could get my workouts done in the afternoon before the other kids could get out of school. Not to mention that I would have far less interaction with the other girls this way. They were really not happy that I was skipping levels and getting one on one attention. They had begun to say very mean thing when they thought I couldn't hear. I guess cats have excellent hearing because I heard them all. Needless to say, I was very excited about this homeschool development.Mom and I kept two sets of books. Seconds grade books that I old show to my Dad, or the teac
"Momma," I whimpered, "What are they doing?" I was so scared I was shaking. Mom looked pretty nervous too. Neither of us knew what to do so we just stood there looking back at the people who had started to lift their heads. They were clearly expecting us to say something. A man wearing a very colorful robe emerged. He must have sensed that we did not know the protocol. He greeted us with a booming voice, "Rise all, and welcome the long awaited Princess Katalea." He spoke with such authority but his words make no sense. Did someone tell him my nickname at home was princess? "Please follow me, your damsire is waiting." He spoke so formally that I immediately grabbed for my bag. As I did a young boy was also reaching for it. He was dressed all in white, there was no color on him except his golden eyes and his incredible tan skin. I thought he was going to grab it and run so I put my hands on it too. He shrug
"That is a great idea little one," he purred at me with eyes that showed kindness and love. "This must be a lot for you to take in, how much do you already know?""I only know that Momma has family here, and that they are going to help me understand how I am half a cat." I said confidently, I had no idea how telling my words were.My Grandfather actually looked hurt, and my Grandmother emitted a guttural sound like she was being strangled.Grandmother spoke for the first time turning to Mom. "Do you hate us so much that you have denied her any knowledge of her heritage?"Momma burst into tears and dropped to her knees before her parents. "I have been such a fool," she cried. Between sobs she whimpered, "Can you forgive me?"It was hard seeing Momma like that, broken and desperate. I was thankful my Grandfather showed compassion. "Rise my child, your transgressions are forgiven. You have
The sun rose over a majestic garden and promised a beautiful day to all that would listen. Grandfather had requested my presence for sunrise breakfast and so I stood, nervous but excited for this day to begin. I heard the whisper of robes that announced his arrival. Werecats were really quiet even in their human form! He was dressed in all white this time, his skin color looking all the more bronzed. His silver hair looked almost white as well in the morning light. He stood so straight and tall, I felt proud to be his grandchild. "Are you the king? I asked. Everyone treated him as one but no one had spoken his name or title in front of me.His eyes lit up with amusement. "My dear, no, I am not a black panther, only a black panther can be royalty. I am the alpha of our pride, however, and my feline form is a lion.""May I meet your lion?" I questioned, always curious."Yes, yo
Jade and I became fast friends. Her two years seemed more like ten when it came to knowledge about the werecat world and she was happy to help. She stayed by my side during all the interviews and for that I was grateful. When the Kalb family came in, we watched as they demonstrated Tahtib as an ancient and beautiful dance with ceremonial sticks. They wore traditional Egyptian garments in whites and blue. The fabric on their costumes moved with the body and created the illusion of water. In my head I sarcastically thought that this dance would be so beautiful that my enemies would fall into a stupor at my feet and decide to leave me alone. Jade was quick to interrupt my dismissive thoughts, "Stop making fun, and pay attention! It's about to get good." I heard her voice clearly in my head. Her two year advantage could also make her bossy! I focused back on the dance just in time to see three black clad figur
Six Long Years Later Only two more excrutiating weeks and this year from hell will be over. Mentally scarred and physically exhausted I am looking forward to summer break with more relief than excitement. I have never minded the scholastic portion of my day, I still approach learning new subjects as a challenge that I must conquer. The day to day social aspects have worn my already fragile confidence into shreds, similar to the wrapping paper on the biggest box at Christmas. In just over three hundred hours I will have three months of much antisipated freedom from the torment that came packaged in the sturdy form of Dalya. For six long years that heifer has been my downfall. I can scarcely remember happy times in my life at all. I have vague memories of laughter and cheer before Dalya came crashing into my life. Thank the goddesses she finally quit gymnastics. It still is the only place that I can
The one bright spot in my life was still gymnastics. I loved everything about it, from the sore muscles to the blistered hands, nothing could compare to the joy I felt doing what others feared. Back flipping on a beam, no problem.....just don't ask me to talk about it in front of the class. Most days, our workouts were silent as Coach asked us to focus more, talk less. This was a bonus in my book. Other than the stereo that always blasted, his voice was all there was to hear. The girls on my team had been together for so many years now, they were more like sisters to me. We shared clothes, make-up, and music. I had more leotards than I did school clothes, but I shared what I could. At the gym, I actually fit it. Even the years that Dalya had joined the team didn't lessen my joy. She was in a lower level than I was, and we worked out with different groups. She had tried to turn Coach against me, but it had backfired on
The school year finally ended and it was all I could do not to cry. Nothing could be said that day to change my elation. I did a little hop skip combination as I neared my house. I was free of these stupid humans for three months. No more looking over my shoulder fearing the next attack from Dalya's crew. No more waiting to see what she had in store for me next. When I burst through the front door I was still feeling like a prisoner on his first day out of jail. I found Darrius packing food into a box. In went bread, peanut butter, chips, and little cakes. Talk about carb overload! The cheery look on his face mirrored my emotions. Derrick came in with his fishing gear all packed and a ratty backpack dangling from his shoulder. Typically, if the twins are this happy it's because of some girl. These two had make it their mission this year to date every girl in our small beach town. "Where are you